Louie Gohmert

TEXAS' 1st DISTRICT

Eighteen House conservatives told GOP leaders Thursday that they will not support any measure to fund the government if it continues to fund Planned Parenthood.

“We must act to fully defund Planned Parenthood,” they wrote in a letter obtained by The Hill. “Please know that we cannot and will not support any funding resolution -- an appropriations bill, an omnibus package, a continuing resolution, or otherwise -- that contains any funding for Planned Parenthood, including mandatory funding streams.”

The letter was addressed to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) who all have expressed concern about several leaked videos that show Planned Parenthood officials caught on hidden cameras discussing aborted fetal tissue.

“It is imperative that Congress do everything within its power to investigate these reports and take immediate action to stop them,” the Republicans wrote, adding that they want leadership to hold a conference meeting as soon as possible to discuss the GOP’s plan.

With 18 Republicans already ruling out support for a funding bill in September if it contains Planned Parenthood funding, it could raise the prospects of a government shutdown in October. While Democrats have also expressed concern about some of the videos, many have defended the organization and many likely would oppose a spending bill that defunds Planned Parenthood.

Congress must fund the government by Oct. 1 and GOP leaders are pointing to a continuing resolution (CR) that would extend 2015-level funding.

The House will have to wait until after its August recess to address the issue; lawmakers are leaving Washington on Wednesday evening and won’t return to Capitol Hill until early September.

The Senate, meanwhile, is scheduled to be in session for one more week and could vote next Monday on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Wednesday. Some GOP senators like Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) on Wednesday said they probably won’t support the legislation. Collins, for example, said Planned Parenthood is the primary provider of women’s services in her state.

Separate from the main appropriations package Congress will have to pass before Oct. 1, Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill that would immediately block funding for Planned Parenthood until investigations have ended. Nearly 150 House Republicans back the measure.

Boehner and McCarthy have both expressed support for the effort to defund the group, but has not scheduled any votes on legislation yet. Boehner has directed the House Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate the organization and the leaked videos.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) shared in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News his experience meeting with family members of victims killed by illegal aliens.

The loved ones of the victims came to Washington, D.C. for a hearing on Kate’s Law and meetings with several legislators concerning the epidemic of illegal immigration into the United States.

Gohmert said that 2016 Presidential candidate Donald Trump has struck a nerve across America on the issue of illegal immigration, because he isn’t beholden to big business and special interests. Gohmert then cited Congressional efforts to bring financial repercussions on sanctuary cities for their blatant violation of federal law.

“I read about them (families whose loved ones have been killed by illegal aliens) in the news and I had also read they were coming up here to testify and the stories just break your heart. You don’t have to have had a child to understand how tragic these situations were and then the fact that they were completely avoidable makes them even more so.”

Gohmert took a group of about ten of these family members, some who came from as far as California, on a tour of the United States Capitol Tuesday evening. “I had first met them right after they testified before the Senate hearing and so we met and we had a visit outside and invited them inside the Capitol and we met, visited and talked and there were tears.”

Sabine Durden lost her only son Dominic Durden when an illegal alien hit the young 911 operator in a traffic collision. She told Breitbart News how appreciative she was of the Texas Congressman’s time and care for the families.

Gohmert said, “We talked and I heard from them on the different stories and what happened and how avoidable these were and that they could still have their child or family member here with them alive if we enforced our immigration laws.”

When asked if meeting the family members drove his conviction about the problem of illegal immigration, Gohmert said, “This reinforces the need to do something and reinvigorates me to make sure that we get something done so that we don’t have to keep meeting people who lose children, lose family members, lose spouses that are completely avoidable.” He said, “We just need to enforce immigration law.”

“This is something that every one of the family members of victims that I met and talked with, they’re affected every single day of their life. It’s just something that’s never far from their thoughts at all.”

Gohmert noted the need to enforce visa overstays and current immigration laws as well as securing the border. Border security is about 60 percent of the problem, Gohmert noted.

“If we just had an administration that enforced the law as it exists and that includes protecting the border, making sure that people don’t come in illegally,” he said it could take care of itself.

Referencing his experience as a judge, he noted the effect of deterrence by having something like Kate’s Law that is intended to put people in jail for coming back in after they are deported.

“Donald Trump has struck a nerve across America.”

He said Trump’s addressing of the illegal immigration issue has propelled the 2016 GOP Presidential candidate in the polls and that Gohmert has even heard “Democrats say, finally a guy that just calls it like it is.” Gohmert continued, “He’s not moved by the Chamber of Commerce and the big businesses that want really cheap labor. He’s not moved by special interest groups that want amnesty. He’s saying let’s secure the border. You’ve got to do that first to have any chance of dealing with the issue.”

Gohmert called sanctuary cities “such a blatant violation of federal law.” He said funding for these cities has got to stop as long as they continue to violate federal law.

“We’ve been pushing for a stronger bill like the bill that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) passed.” He said the bill that passed easily in the House, but may not be “what the Speaker brings to the floor.”

“We have got to be sensitive to the kind of destructiveness that this illegal activity is causing,” Gohmert added.

Sunday, Chuck Todd asserted that there is no evidence to back up illegal alien crime statistics and “we couldn’t find a single study that links violent crime and immigration.” However, Breitbart News’ John Nolte provided a well thought out response calling out Todd for ignoring illegal immigrant crime in favor of all immigrant statistics. Nolte included shocking statistics including over a thousand child rapes.

Gohmert also countered Todd’s comments, “Very recently there was a report that 37% of all the federal convictions in 2014 were people illegally here so in the case of somebody like Chuck Todd clearly he is incredibly ignorant man of the facts not to be aware that there are all kind of statistics that back up how critical this issue is.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement on ‘The Safer D.C. Act’ that he introduced which would end the sanctuary city policies in the District of Columbia:

“In the wake of the tragic murder of San Francisco resident, Kate Steinle, by a five-time deported illegal criminal alien, it is important to realize that the District of Columbia is in fact also a sanctuary city like San Francisco. Subsequently, when District police arrest individuals lacking paperwork or information regarding citizenship or immigration status they are prohibited from both investigating immigration matters and also contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“This type of limitation simply should not be the case. It is time to take action and start protecting cities and citizens from crimes which may be prevented with proper checking, communication and accountability between departments.

“The Safer D.C. Act would ensure that when the District of Columbia arrests an individual it is required to provide information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) so it can determine the citizenship or immigration status of that individual. Once DHS determines than the alien is inadmissible or deportable, DHS is required to issue a detainer directing the District of Columbia to hold the alien and then take the alien into federal custody after the conclusion of any legal proceeding under DC law.

“If the Secretary fails to issue a detainer and take the alien into custody then political appointees of the Department of Homeland Security are subject to penalties. Likewise, DC employees will also be subject to civil fines for failing to comply with the law.”

“Protecting Americans from the violence of criminals illegally in the country should be a top priority. This administration has been so intentionally and recklessly dysfunctional in protecting our country that in fiscal year 2014, 36.7% of all federal sentences were for crimes by people who are not even legally in the country.

It is time to start taking action to ensure innocent, precious lives are not lost due to indolent, outlawed and politically motivated oversight. The Constitution explicitly vests Congress with exclusive jurisdiction over the District of Columbia –and we should take action. Therefore, at the very least, Congress must use our explicit Constitutional power to ensure that at least the District of Columbia is not a sanctuary city.”

Congressman Gohmert is the Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, he was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas and was appointed by then Texas Governor Rick Perry to complete a term as Chief Justice of the 12th Court of Appeals.

A Texas Republican congressman has introduced legislation that would force the District to share more readily with federal authorities information about illegal immigrants arrested in the city with the goal of increasing deportations.

The bill introduced by Rep. Louie Gohmert follows in the footsteps of similar legislation passed Thursday by the House that would withhold federal grants from states and localities that shield illegal immigrants from deportation by not cooperating with federal immigration officials.

Both pieces of legislation come amid calls for a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities and their lenient policies on illegal immigration after a previously deported felon was charged in the July 1 fatal shooting of a San Francisco woman.

Since 2011, the District has prohibited police officers and other city employees from inquiring about a person’s immigration status. The city also limits cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under its Secure Communities program.

“This type of limitation simply should not be the case,” Mr. Gohmert said. “It is time to take action and start protecting cities and citizens from crimes which may be prevented with proper checking, communication and accountability between departments.”

His legislation would require D.C. officials to immediately provide information including names and fingerprints from all arrestees to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to determine a person’s citizenship status. If the person is an illegal immigrant, DHS would have to issue a detainer requiring the District to hold the person in jail for 48 hours to give DHS officials time to take the person into custody. It also would levy $10,000 fines against any city officials who violate the law or decline to cooperate with DHS.

Under current city policy, the D.C. Jail will only hold an illegal immigrant for 24 hours if the person has a prior conviction for a “dangerous” crime — such as violent crimes like rape or a crime involving a firearm. As a result, the District deports only a small number of people.

Secure Communities went live in the District in June 2012, and through February the city has deported 199 people through the program.

Even if the national legislation progresses through the Senate, it already has encountered pushback from the White House, which threatened a veto ahead of Thursday’s vote.

It’s unclear whether Mr. Gohmert’s “Safer D.C. Act” could fly under the radar by only targeting the District.

The legislation demonstrates Congress’ authority to oversee the city, but how such actions, typically proposed by Republicans, rankle local lawmakers who are by-and-large Democrats.

Already Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s nonvoting representative to Congress, is speaking out about the bill, which was introduced Wednesday.

“This bill is another attack on our immigrant community,” Ms. Norton said. “The District, like cities across the country, has decided that the interests of public safety and justice are best protected by limiting the city’s cooperation with federal immigration officials, yet Representative Gohmert thinks he knows how better to protect our city than officials elected to bear that responsibility.”

D.C. shadow senator Paul Strauss was particularly aghast by a provision of the proposal that would allow fines against city officials who don’t cooperate.

“It’s seems pretty horrific to basically turn folks who want to work with the undocumented community into criminals for not trying to become informants for the government,” Mr. Strauss said.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) had about the strongest rebuke of any member of Congress when it comes to President Barack Obama’s nuclear arms deal with Iran on the House floor on Wednesday evening. Speaking for nearly 30 minutes, Gohmert deconstructed the deal point-by-point.

“There’s so much about this deal that stinks to high heaven,” he said at one point.

“This deal with an evil group of leaders in Iran is going to spell death down the road for masses of people if we don’t get it stopped. So Mr. Speaker – that’s my plea. Let’s stop the deal for the good of the world,” Gohmert added later.

Later on, Gohmert said that the deal would lead to the losses of millions of lives and “rampant destruction around the world”—and that Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize will be meaningless at that point.

“It won’t do much good to return a Nobel Peace Prize after a president causes nuclear proliferation that leads ultimately to the losses of millions of lives and rampant destruction around the world – and certainly in the Middle East,” Gohmert said. “I mean, we got all these folks worrying about climate change and here we are on the brink of 10 years at the most before the most terroristic, evil leaders in the world have their hands on nuclear weapons that will kill millions of people..”

Gohmert, who read the deal on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., also weighed in on the reports that the White House is not releasing the full text and components of the deal.

“There is no reason this agreement should not be public – so everyone can read it,” Gohmert said.
Gohmert added that this deal further proves how America’s enemies have learned to work with Obama’s administration, but our allies are shunned and pushed aside.

“Our enemies have really learned how to deal with this administration,” Gohmert said. “Our friends have got to be scratching their heads – those that still have their heads; and, therein lies another tragedy.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement regarding the now second undercover video of a Planned Parenthood executive haggling over the price of aborted baby body parts:

“The surfacing of a second abhorrent Planned Parenthood video makes it more than apparent this federally funded organization has more than one isolated individual heartlessly calculating profit from dismembering unborn babies in such a way that more money can be made. These videos make it clear to any but the most calloused that the negotiation is not about ‘tissue’ but about uncrushed baby body parts. This is clearly about profit from trafficking in dismembered baby organs – which is illegal.

“It is also abundantly clear that these high level leaders in Planned Parenthood are concerned about preserving organs and parts of an unborn child with no thought at all for the pain and suffering of the child whose parts they are crushing as they pull off limbs and other parts as they extract the child. Planned Parenthood needs to be held accountable for the grotesque actions of its leaders.

“It is utterly despicable that an executive at Planned Parenthood would cruelly joke about the remains of precious lives by haggling over their body parts using terms such as – ‘lowball’ and her desire for a ‘Lamborghini.’ These are human lives – not specimens; and this group should be called out for what it’s doing – the hideous collecting of revenue for the babies they destroy for their sellable parts. That is not only abominable; it is criminal. If America does not wake up soon to its decadence, we will go beyond the point of being salvageable as a society.”

Congressman Gohmert is the Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, he was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas and was appointed by then Texas Governor Rick Perry to complete a term as Chief Justice of the 12th Court of Appeals.

Congressional leaders said Friday they will direct the Pentagon to allow troops to carry guns on base for personal protection following a deadly shooting rampage in Tennessee that killed four Marines and seriously wounded a sailor at a recruiting center.

The directive will be included in the National Defense Authorization Act, which is set to be finalized within days, according to a joint statement from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who are heading negotiations over the bill.

Gun proponents have been calling for the Defense Department to lift its current policy, which allows only security and law enforcement to carry loaded guns on military facilities outside of war zones, since Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.

“Long before the Chattanooga attack, we had been working to clarify a post commander’s authority to allow carrying of personal firearms,” the statement from McCain and Thornberry said. “This year’s National Defense Authorization Act will reflect that work. Together, we will direct the Pentagon to end the disconnect between the threats our warfighters and their families face and the tools they have to defend themselves.”

But Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, warned Friday about “over-arming” personnel. He said that security at recruiting centers will be reviewed but that it was too early to say whether the service will boost protection, according to The Associated Press.

The Chattanooga shooting Thursday by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old electrical engineer from the city, was at least the seventh such deadly incident involving servicemembers since Fort Hood and was being investigated by the FBI as a possible act of domestic terrorism.

Abdulazeez drove his Mustang up to the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga and began firing on the military facility, killing and wounding personnel. Witnesses said local police responded to the incident and the gun battle lasted about 20 minutes.

The shooter, who was killed by authorities, had also fired into a strip mall recruiting office earlier in the day.

McCain and Thornberry did not immediately release details of the legislation. A current measure in the massive NDAA bill would give local commanders the final say on whether troops could carry concealed weapons on military facilities for personal protection.

The full House passed the measure in May in a victory for Republicans who support gun rights, but the NDAA measure struggled to draw needed support from the other chamber of Congress before the Chattanooga shooting, said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who sponsored similar legislation last year.

Gohmert said the attack likely spurred lawmakers to consider the House proposal.

“I think the least we can do is not have these four Marines die for nothing. At least let’s move forward,” he said.

It was part of a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill on Friday. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served in the Marine Corps, said his staff was drafting legislation that would allow military officers in charge of recruiting centers to carry firearms or provide for armed security.

“If you go on any base, you have armed security there. ... Recruiting centers in a strip mall, they have no defense against people who just hate America and hate our military,” he said.

Gun rights advocates have criticized the current DOD policy for creating gun-free zones on military bases at a time when servicemembers face increased risks of terrorist attacks by Islamic State sympathizers.

Many states that are home to military bases allow citizens to carry firearms outside the fence line, raising concerns that troops could be left defenseless. Tennessee requires that only handguns be registered, and the state recently voted to allow residents to carry weapons in public parks, according to the National Rifle Association.

The issue of guns on military bases entered the 2016 presidential race in April when Cruz said he supports the Senate legislation allowing troops to be armed.

Trump followed suit this week and on Friday said the change could have made a difference for the victims in Tennessee.

“Get rid of gun free zones. The four great Marines who were just shot never had a chance,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They were highly trained but helpless without guns.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement today regarding the announced Iran Nuclear Agreement:

“The bare basics of the agreement that have been disclosed today between the Obama Administration and the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world, Iran, are not only disastrous for the future of the United States; it is an ultimate betrayal of Israel, Egypt and moderate Muslim nations everywhere. It is hard to conceive of a deal that could be much worse.

“While the President announced that Iran will dismantle some of its centrifuges that are enriching uranium, he then failed to note that the U.S. will help them install more advanced centrifuges. What an absolute gift to terrorism by the Obama administration. This administration learned nothing from the debacle negotiated with North Korea that ultimately helped Korea become a nuclear threat to world peace.

“The Obama-Kerry deal agrees to the release of tens of billions of dollars to Iran that unquestionably will include money used to terrorize and kill Americans, Christians, Jews and moderate Muslims the world over. Other provisions reported include that the embargo on arms being sold to Iran is being lifted; Iran will be allowed to keep its military sites off-limits ‘for a time;’ Iran can veto any nuclear inspections that were supposed to be allowed ‘anytime, anywhere;’ no nuclear facilities will actually be dismantled; and Iran will be ever closer to making good on its promise to try to wipe Israel off the map.

“For anyone who believes the Bible, this is a betrayal of Israel that will have adverse consequences for the United States. For anyone who does not believe the Bible, this ‘deal’ helps fund and more powerfully weaponize the country whose leaders hate America more than any other nation. Even quite recently, Iranian top officials have been chanting – ‘Death to America.’

“Though the President was mired in self-adulation regarding this agreement, even before it was formally put into writing; this is a devastating threat to civilization which must not be ratified.”

Congressman Gohmert discussed problems with the announced agreement before several thousand attendees today at the Christians United For Israel summit held at the Washington, DC Convention Center.

Congressman Gohmert is the Chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Vice Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, he was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas and was appointed by then Texas Governor Rick Perry to complete a term as Chief Justice of the 12th Court of Appeals.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) gave a floor speech in the House of Representatives Thursday night in which he called for the Democratic Party to change their name because of their support for slavery and racism that has riven the country for centuries.

“When Obama condemned Christianity for the Crusades, only a thousand years too late, in attendance was the Foreign Minister of Sudan; a country that practices slavery and genocide. Obama could have taken time out from his rigorous denunciation of the Middle Ages to speak truth to the emissary of a Muslim Brotherhood regime whose leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. But our moral liberals spend too much time romanticizing actual slaver cultures.

“It’s a lot easier for Obama to get in his million dollar Cadillac with its 5-inch thick bulletproof windows, a ride Boss Hogg could only envy, and chase down a couple of good ole boys than it is to condemn a culture that committed genocide in our own time, not in 1099, and that keeps slaves today, not in 1815.

“Even while the Duke boys were being chased through Georgia, Obama appeared at an Iftar dinner; an event at which Muslims emulate Mohammed, who had more slaves than Robert E. Lee. There are no slaves in Arlington House today, but in the heartlands of Islam, from Saudi mansions to ISIS dungeons, there are still slaves, laboring, beaten, bought, sold, raped and disposed of in Mohammed’s name.

“Slavery does not exist under the Confederate flag eagerly being pulled down. It does exist under the black and green flags of Islam rising over mosques in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and America today…”

Gohmert read more from the speech then started speaking about the history of the Democratic Party:

“There in an entity that was so evil in supporting slavery, in fighting against civil rights, in fighting against the Christian brother that Martin Luther King, Jr. was, fighting against those who wanted equality that the Constitution guaranteed. We ought to look at those symbols and we ought to look at what they stood for and perhaps ban any political organization from participating in Congress for upholding the abomination that slavery was to this country.”

Gohmert then started reading from the platforms of a political party in 1856. Throughout the speech he called the party ‘evil’, ‘disgusting’ and hideous’.

Gohmert said the number one plank asserted that Congress had no power to interfere in the states and:

…”that all efforts of the abolitionists or others made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery or to take incipient steps in relation thereto are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences and that all such efforts have en inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger the stability and permanence of the union and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions.”

That platform further stated the party wanted to preserve slavery in states that wanted to do so.

Gohmert said the platform sounded like something the Ku Klux Klan would have written.

Gohmert named the platform as that of the Democratic Party and mentioned that many Democrats were members of the Ku Klux Klan and suggested that things named after a unnamed senator who was a member of the Klan be changed:

“I think it’s time, not for the Washington Redskins to change their name but for the Democratic Party to change its name. Because all you have to do is go online and look up the history of the Democratic Party. It’s one of oppressing African-Americans. It’s one of supporting slavery and the horrors that occurred in the United States.”

In an interview on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) suggested on Wednesday that if four married heterosexual couples, four gay couples, and four lesbian couples were sent to live on separate islands, nature would dictate which civilization would survive 200 years later.

“If you took four couples – men and women, a couple, man and wife – and you put those four couples on an island that had everything needed to survive and then you … put four couples of men on another island with all they need to survive, and then another island, four couples of women with all they need to survive and come back in 200 years and see – if you don’t believe in God at all – see what nature has done - which group, which civilization has survived and which has ended,” Gohmert said.

“And I think that will tell us, even if you don’t believe in God, what nature dictates should be a marriage, a building block,” he said.

Gohmert also proposed a legal fix to address specific situations where gay couples are prohibited from visiting their significant other in the hospital or from leaving property to a significant other after they die.

“People that have loved individuals from the same sex and been prohibited from seeing them in the hospital – those kind of things we should fix. If you love somebody and they love you, you ought to be able to see them in the hospital. You ought to be able to leave them property,” he said.

“There are a lot of things we could fix without destroying the building block,” Gohmert added.

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Serving his fifth term in the United States House of Representatives, Congressman Louie Gohmert was first sworn in January 4, 2005. He proudly represents the First District of Texas which encompasses over 12 counties stretching nearly 120 miles down the state’s eastern border.

During these trying economic times, Rep. Gohmert is developing innovative solutions to jumpstart our economy and offering practical alternatives to the government’s bailout frenzy. His “Federal Income Tax Holiday” gained widespread national support from the grassroots level to national leaders, allowing taxpayers to decide how best to spend their hard-earned money. Louie has repeatedly called for an end to the socialization of our economy and decried the notion that Washington Bureaucrats know better than American taxpayers.

Louie serves on numerous House committees and subcommittees. He was recently named Vice Chair of the Judiciary subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security due to his extensive knowledge stemming from years in the court room.

Prior to being elected to serve in Congress, Louie was elected to three terms as District Judge in Smith County, Texas. During his tenure on the bench, he gained national and international attention for some of his innovative rulings. He was later appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to complete a term as Chief Justice of the 12th Court of Appeals.

Louie received his undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University and later graduated from Baylor School of Law. He is also a veteran having served his country as Captain in the U.S. Army.

Today, he and his wife Kathy are the proud parents of three daughters. Their family attends Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, where Louie has served as a deacon and still teaches Sunday school.